


Game Over

by MayGlenn



Series: May's February Ficlet Challenge 2021 [18]
Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Background Relationships, Discussions of Death and Killing, Discussions of High School, Final Fantasy XIV - Freeform, Gen, Max and Alex play video games and talk, Nebulous Well-Adjusted Future, Which Alex and Max have in common, You've Heard of Science Bros Now Get Ready for Nerd Buddies!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-17 10:46:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29715987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MayGlenn/pseuds/MayGlenn
Summary: Alex was midway through a quest when he saw Max log on. He was comfortably pillowed in the corner of his couch, with everything he needed nearby: snacks, drinks, phone, charging cords, and cane. His prosthetic was off and his skin was enjoying the freedom. His house was quiet except for the game, but when he saw Max’s name pop up he plugged in his headphones.
Relationships: Max Evans & Alex Manes
Series: May's February Ficlet Challenge 2021 [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2141298
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18
Collections: February Ficlet Challenge 2021: Apocalypse No





	Game Over

Alex was midway through a quest when he saw Max log on. He was comfortably pillowed in the corner of his couch, with everything he needed nearby: snacks, drinks, phone, charging cords, and cane. His prosthetic was off and his skin was enjoying the freedom. His house was quiet except for the game, but when he saw Max’s name pop up he plugged in his headphones.

“Alex, you there? Sorry I’m late.— _ Yeah, babe, love you, too, bye _ .” 

Alex smiled, hearing Liz talking rapidly in the background. “That wine-and-painting thing Rosa is doing is going to make a killing. Tell her I said have fun. Maria already left.”

Max relayed the message, made a sound like he was kissing Liz, then said, “Michael joining us?” 

“You know he hates this stuff. He’s giving Maria a ride and going to help Arturo with something until the girls are done.” 

“His loss, though I appreciate that he’s DDing for them,” Max said, getting comfortable himself. Liz would probably stay at her dad’s house tonight, so his whole house was a man cave for now. “Hang on, I’m gonna grab a beer.” 

“You better not make yourself a liability,” Alex warned, grunting as he dispatched a pair of beastmen. Max laughed at how seriously Alex took his  _ Final Fantasy _ games. “I’m almost done with this quest and we can go on a raid or something. See who else is on.” 

Max looked at their guild roster, but they were the only ones online at the moment. “I’ll just come join you. You need a healer, don’t you?” 

“You’ll have to do this quest over again, though. You won’t get the XP for it.” 

“That’s okay, I’ll know what to expect,” Max said, fast-traveling his White Mage to where Alex was. 

They talked mostly  _ Final Fantasy _ lore while they played through the levels. Alex had played and platinumed more of the games, but Max had read all the books. Between Alex being in the military and Max being dead, they had each missed some stuff, and playing  _ Final Fantasy XIV _ filled a gap for both of them, and not just in terms of the franchise. 

“I can’t believe we didn’t know we had this in common in high school,” Max said, in response to Alex’s “Thanks,” when he healed him from the brink of death. 

“Oh, you know, I was too busy being a gay emo kid. I doubt your parents would have let me come over.” 

Max frowned. “You do know I was in theatre, right? I think most people thought  _ I _ was gay in high school.” 

Alex chuckled. “Nah, Liz would have mentioned it to me if she thought you were.” Then he sighed. “Kyle Valenti ruining both of our lives in high school.” 

“God,  _ seriously _ ,” Max laughed. 

“Help me look around for crystals.” 

“Sure.”

Alex cast his mind back to high school, thinking about Max Evans, a periphery character then, instead of what his mind usually jumped to when he thought about high school: Maria, Liz, Michael, Kyle. He laughed suddenly. “I definitely remember you coming up in the cute boys conversations we would have.” 

“Shut up!” Max said, face heating and character idling facing a wall. 

“You did! God help us, we were all of us into the broody tall white boy thing. All three of us. Maria, too.” 

Max spluttered. “Why was I perpetually single if I was this hot commodity, huh?” 

“Your psychotic sister, obviously, man,” Alex began, before “—Oh, shit, we got—” 

They were distracted by the game as the miniboss appeared, and it was only after a cut scene and a fight that they picked up where they left off. 

“Isobel’s great now, obviously, but no one wanted anywhere near Regina George’s brother. Playing with fire. That’s what we all concluded, anyway, freshman year. Sorry the tall white boy catnip wasn’t alluring enough.”

Max huffed while he considered this. He wondered vaguely if Isobel did any, like, active sabotaging of his love life with her powers while they were in high school or if it was passive and unintentional. He probably didn’t want to know, but it sounded like something she’d do, and anyway it wouldn’t help to get angry about it now. 

“Yeah, I was too busy wanting to be available in case Liz ever dumped Kyle Valenti, anyway,” Max said. “So it’s not  _ all  _ Isobel’s fault.” 

Alex huffed. “There you go again.” 

Max sighed. “Yeah, well.” 

“Yeah. Well.” 

There was something unspoken but understood between Max and Alex. It wasn’t something they had to mention aloud, ever, much less over an unsecured Playstation network. 

Max had forgiven Isobel for worse. Max had  _ done  _ worse  _ for  _ Isobel. And Alex couldn’t judge, because he had done the same in the name of defending another imperfect entity—the United States of America. 

Alex unplugged his headphones from his controller, and grabbed his phone to dial Max. His phone line at least was significantly more secure. 

“Is this a cry into our  _ Final Fantasy _ and potato chips night?” 

Max laughed, a thin sound, but genuine. There was an echo until he unplugged his headset, too. “Maybe we can do some collection quests for the rest of the night? The killing was getting a little too...” 

Alex nodded, and then said, “Yeah.” 

It didn’t take a psychic to understand the joy Max derived from playing healers in  _ Final Fantasy _ . In the game, he didn’t get sick after magically healing his party. In the game, killing pixelated creatures didn’t  _ matter _ . 

“We’re in the right region for some item quests, I think,” Alex said, “and a few more people may log on later for a raid. If you’re not up for that—”

“No, I’m fine. You?” 

“Yeah,” Alex said. Murder in the real world wasn’t supposed to be something you could get away with, much less be praised for, and that was their problem. Righteousness was a burden heavier than the killing itself, having to justify the taking of someone else’s life just so you could go on functioning. “It’s just a game.”

“You ever worry all of it is?” Max asked, suddenly vulnerable.

Alex blew out a breath. “That’s not usually my brand of disassociation, but I guess now it could be.” 

“Sorry,” Max huffed. 

“I mean, it’s not necessarily a bad thing if it is, right? As long as we’re aware the world is, you know, a massive multiplayer, not that people are NPCs. You behave pretty much the same in-game as you do in real life, as far as that goes. All living is is performing tasks and getting rewards, anyway.”

“Thanks, Late-stage capitalism.” 

“Right.” Alex laughed. “Speaking of rewards, follow me. I know a guy who needs ore over here.” 

“Lead on.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Nineteenth in the February Ficlet Challenge of 2021. The prompt was "game over."


End file.
